Friday, October 14, 2016

October 15, 2016
marks the 50th anniversary of the passage of the National Historic
Preservation Act. The Act was signed
into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on October 15, 1966 and was the most
significant and wide-reaching preservation legislation ever enacted in the
United States. The date also marked the
listing of the first sites on the National Register of Historic Places, created
as part of the Act. In this article, we
will look at the four sites in Chicago listed on the National Register that
day.

Other
preservation legislation preceding the Act included the Historic Sites Act
passed in 1935, which empowered the Secretary of the Interior to create
preservation programs, including the Historic American Buildings Survey, formed
initially to provide jobs for architects and engineers during the Great
Depression. In 1949, President Truman
signed the National Trust for Historic Preservation Act to encourage and engage
the public in the preservation of buildings and sites, although it did not
provide funding.

During the 1950s
and 1960s, the creation of the interstate highway system and urban renewal
program destroyed countless historic sites across the country. In response, a report entitled With Heritage So Rich, coordinated by
Lady Bird Johnson, sought to examine the effects of urban renewal and to find
ways to protect historically and architecturally significant properties from
harm caused by federal projects. The
report was a direct force leading to the passage of the National Historic
Preservation Act in 1966. That Act
created the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, State Historic Preservation
Offices, the Section 106 review process (to review the impact of federal
projects on historic sites), and the creation of the National Register of
Historic Places.

The National
Register is the official listing of buildings, sites, structures, and objects
worthy of preservation, based on a series of four criteria. Although listing does not prevent alteration
or destruction, it does qualify properties for various grants, loans, and tax
incentives and raises public awareness of these properties.

The National
Historic Landmark (NHL) program existed prior to 1966, and a provision of the
Act was that all properties designated National Historic Landmarks were automatically
added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. Four properties in Chicago, all located on
the South Side, were National Historic Landmarks as of that date, and will
celebrate the 50th anniversary of their listing on the National
Register on Saturday October 15, 2016.

Frederick C. Robie House
Designated an NHL on November 27, 1963

5757 S. Woodlawn Avenue

1908-1909

Frank Lloyd Wright, architect

“The Robie House has been called Wright’s
strongest statement in domestic design.
Its free-flowing interior spaces, overhanging roofs to shade windows and
balconies, indoor recreation spaces, and strong horizontal lines forecast
trends in house design during the following 50 years. As sculpture it can be considered an
abstraction in lines and planes.
Pictorially the tawny brick and dove-colored concrete trim are pleasing
to the eye. The entrance has been
awarded a minor role and treatment of the chimney stack lends drama. Inside the sensations of security and privacy
are enhanced by elevating the principal rooms one story above a raised
basement.” (National Register Nomination
Form)

Site of the First Self-Sustaining Nuclear
Reaction

Designated an NHL on February 18, 1965

East side of South Ellis Avenue between
56th and 57th Streets

The first self-sustaining
nuclear reactor, known as Chicago Pile-1, was constructed in a former squash
court measuring 30 by 60 feet underneath the west stands of the old Stagg Field
at the University of Chicago.
Scientists, including Enrico Fermi, achieved the controlled release of
nuclear energy for the first time here on December 2, 1942. Chicago Pile-1 was part of the Manhattan
Project, the Allied forces effort to create the atom bomb during World War II,
and consisted of 45,000 graphite blocks.
It was moved the next year to create Chicago Pile-2, and was dismantled
in 1954.

The site is now marked by a
sculpture entitled “Nuclear Energy” by Henry Moore, which was dedicated on
December 2, 1967, the 25th anniversary of the first self-sustaining
controlled nuclear reaction on the site.
The sculpture is meant to conjure images of both a human skull and a
mushroom cloud.

Hull House

Designated an NHL on June 23, 1965

800 S. Halsted Street

1856, architect unknown

1905, Pond & Pond, architects

In the 1960s, the
main structure of Hull House was restored to its 1850s Italianate appearance,
while the interior was restored to the period after 1890 when it was occupied
by Jane Addams. Addams made numerous
additions and alterations to the main building, which were stripped away when
the building was restored. Of the large
complex of buildings which surrounded it, designed by architects Pond &
Pond, only the dining hall has been retained and restored on a new site close
to the main structure. The significance
of Hull House lies in its use as a settlement house founded by Jane Addams and
Ellen Gates Starr in 1889 to serve the huge numbers of recently arrived
European immigrants on Chicago’s near west side. The House provided social and educational
opportunities for the immigrants, who attended classes in art, history,
literatures, crafts and many other subjects.
Hull House went on to establish the city’s first public playground,
bathhouse, and public gymnasium, pursued educational and political reform, and
actively investigated housing, sanitation, and working issues. Jane Addams was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
in 1931.

Midway Studios

Designated an NHL on December 21, 1965

6016 S. Ingleside Avenue

1906

Pond & Pond, architects

The sculptor
Lorado Taft (1860-1936) and a group of fellow artists and students lived and
worked in this building, consisting of converted carriage house that was added
on to and enlarged over time. As noted
in the National Register Nomination Form, “Lorado explained that he built like a chambered
nautilus, cell after cell, until there were 13 studios occupied by himself and
associated sculptors and many assistants – at least 20 in all. Most of these private studios opened on to a
large roofed court to which in time was added a fireplace and a fountain; a
marble-cutting room and a stage for plays were built later . . . Below Taft’s
own private studio, which today contains many of his original models and
studies, was what he called the “Dream Museum” room, containing an enormous
table of time replicas in plaster of the great masterpieces of the world
arranged according to the plan for his Dream Museum.” Taft was a sculptor of realistic works often
on a monumental scale, including the Fountain of Time at the west end of the
Midway Plaisance, and the Fountain of the Great Lakes, outside the Art
Institute. Through his works, his writings, and his years
as an art teacher and lecturer, he greatly influenced American sculpture in the
first decades of the 20th century.
Today the building now provides studio and gallery space for the
University of Chicago’s studio art program.

About Glessner House Museum

Glessner House Museum engages diverse audiences in exploring urban life and design through the preservation and interpretation of the architecture of Henry Hobson Richardson and the historic home of John and Frances Glessner.

The Museum is open to visitors for guided tours Wednesday through Sunday at 11:30am, 1:00pm, and 2:30pm. Tours last approximately 75 minutes. Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and students, and free for children ages 5 and under. Wednesdays are free for all.